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Elena Baltacha able to keep British flag flying in recovery win

March 9 2012, 12:00am, The Times

Baltacha trailed Rus 2-0 in the third set, but fought back to winToby Melville/Reuters

Everyone landing in these parts in the past couple of days has recounted tales of horror and even Roger Federer’s private jet was no shield from a shocker of a plunge near Palm Springs airport as the winds whipped off the mountains. The Swiss was happy to confess that his well-measured nonchalance took a bit of a battering.

One of the elements that marks the BNP Paribas Open — the first gathering of all the sport’s luminaries since the opening grand-slam event of the year in Melbourne — from the rest is how much the wind plays a part in proceedings.

There was no doubt, according to James Trotman, his coach, that James Ward’s dispiriting loss in the opening round of the qualifying competition had…